Storm Topples Six China Buildings (Updated)

A typhoon pummeled China’s eastern coast Sunday, toppling houses, flooding villages and forcing nearly a million people to flee to safety. Officials rode bicycles to distribute food to residents trapped by rising waters.

Typhoon Morakot struck after triggering the worst flooding in Taiwan 50 years, leaving dozens missing and feared dead and toppling a six-story hotel. It earlier lashed the Philippines, killing at least 21 people.

Morakot, which means “emerald” in Thai, made landfall in China’s eastern Fujian province, carrying heavy rain and winds of 74 miles (119 kilometers) per hour, according the China Meteorological Administration. At least one child died after a house collapsed on him in Zhejiang province.

In China, the storm triggered a massive landslide in eastern Zhejiang province that toppled six apartment buildings and buried an unknown number of residents late on Monday.

The official Xinhua news agency said on Tuesday that the landslide in Pengxi town destroyed the six four-storey buildings at the foot of a mountain.

Six survivors were pulled out – one in critical condition – but rescuers did not yet know how many people were buried under the rubble and search operations were hampered by the amount of mud and rock.

The storm also sparked the evacuation of about 1.4 million people from Zhejiang and neighbouring coastal province Fujian, Chinese authorities said.